Wid's year book (1919)

The Veterans oldest producer, director and exhibitor in the United Interesting information pertinent to the States. ED PORTER First and Oldest Director, Producer and Camera Man ITNTIL Ed Porter made “The Life of an Amer¬ ican Fireman” in 1899 as the first long feat¬ ure there had been no pictures over fifty or seventy-five feet in length. Mr. Porter went with the Edison Company in 1898 as Manager of Productions. He was given complete charge of all motion pictures made by the Edison company and made the first so-called “feature” film. While making the short-length films Porter saw that if it was possible to make people laugh with films it would also be easy to do drama with a good story. He therefore hired a cast to work in “The Life of an American Fireman” with Arthur White as leading man. White is now with the B. F. Keith organization. The leading woman was Vivian Vaughan. The picture was along the same lines as “The Still Alarm” and was ob¬ tained with the co-operation of the Newark and Orange fire departments. The outdoor scenes were all taken at Newark and Orange while the studio work was done at the Edison studio on ,21st street. “The Life of an American Fire¬ man,” with a length of 800 feet proved to be such a success that “The Great Train Robbery” was filmed. While making “The Great Train Robbery” Porter was on the lookout for a few “bold bad bandits” and among the applicants for the job was-Gr^M Anderson who later became famous as “Broncho Billy.” The company had to go about nine miles out of New York to reach “location” and when they arrived a horseback ride of six miles was necessary. They rented horses at a livery stable and before giving each man a horse including the “bandits,” “sheriff” and regulation “posse” they were asked whether or not they could ride. When the question was put to Anderson he said that he could. The entire party set out and when they arrived at “location” Anderson was missing. Another man was hired for his place and the picture went on. When they had finished shooting the scenes and after returning the horses the keeper of the stable informed them that Anderson had ridden about a mile and had been thrown by the horse and had ' returned the animal and went back to New York. Anderson later turned out to be an excellent horseback rider. The success of “The Great Train Robbery” converted more people to the possibilities of ^notion pictures than had ever been interested in motion pictures previous to this time. It was a real “thriller” and was played in legitimate thea¬ ters all over the United States. Carnivals used it as their main attraction. Shortly after the production of “The Great Train Robbery” Bio¬ graph produced “The Moonshiner” which ran about six hundred feet. Among the later films that Ed Porter directed for Edison were “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “The Kleptomaniac,” “The Seven Ages” and “The Miller’s Daughter,” In 1906 D. W. Griffith, who had been working in stock and also writing short stories for magazines was hired by Porter for his first appearance in films. He was made leading man for “The Eagle’s Nestr which Porter was producing at that time. After this picture Griffith went to Biograph as a scen¬ ario writer and when the regular Biograph direc¬ tor became ill he was given a chance to direct a picture. The rest is well known. Porter, it can be truthfully said, was the first producer, director and first camera man. He did all the camera work for his early productions. After leaving the Edison company Porter founded the Precision Machine Company, makers of the Simplex projection machine. He then formed the Rex company and later with P. A. Powers, Carl Laemmle, David Horsely and other independents formed the Universal Film Mfg. Company. He was instrumental in forming the Eamous PlayersLasky Company and held a forty-five per cent, interest in that company until he sold out in 1912. Edison — Inventor of the Motion Picture HE possibility of making a record of animate movement was predicted long before the ac¬ tual accomplishment. It is well known that the modern art of motion pictures depends entirely upon instantaneous photography. It is also true that the suggestion of the idea and that suggestion which later brought about the mechanical equip¬ ment with which to perfect it was made long be¬ fore instantaneous photography was discovered. Although the first motion picture was made in the summer of 1899 it had its real birth a century earlier when Plateau, a Frenchman, constructed an optical toy, the “Phenakistiscope” forerunner of the “Zoetrope” or “Wheel of Life.” This ma¬ chine was introduced in America in 1845. In 1840 Ducos obtained a patent in France on a machine similar to the “Zoetrope.” It was pos¬ sible to get pictures of moving parades, military manoeuvers, etc. There are many others who be¬ lieved Ducos’ theories but they were held back by the shortcomings of photography. The first serious attempt to secure a record of movement by photography was made in 1878 by Edward Muybridge. It was brought about